The country lives in the hope that in 2022, the Pretoria agreements that have ended the conflict between the Addis Aiba government and the Tigna rebels will be implemented. Monsfasor Tesfasellasie Medhin, Catholic Eparquia Bishop in Adigrat, expresses his great concern: “The Bacquelian mystery makes us realize, after Friday, the arrival of Sunday always to this retirement, we also want to be pilgrims for hope.”
Luka Atanasio – Vatikan Sidad
The second anniversary, on November 2, for the signing of the Pretoria agreements, which ended the Tigris conflict, is one of the bloody and most forgotten wars in recent years -at least 600,000 dead, in addition to more than 2.5 million displaced people within two years -without any celebration. On the contrary, since the end of 2024, internal tensions with the general recession in implementing the agreement have made the situation in the conflicting region in northern Ethiopia again.
The peace negotiations between the Addis Aiba government and the rebels in the Tigris, first represented by the Popular Front for the Tiger Liberation (TPLF), actually expecting the demobilization of the external forces that supported the central army (i.e. red and red, a gradual return to the vertical. Nothing of this happens. In addition, internal tensions within TPF caused divisions and increased anxiety from returning to the conflict.
Tired people
To understand through the moment that lives in the Tigris and the families of how Christians are preparing to live on Easter, the Vatican media resorted to Tesvasillasi Midin, the Bishop of the Catholic Abarquya in Adjari, the head of the diocese that includes every WWT and part of Asia.
“There is a lot of anxiety. A third of the Tigris remains occupied by the Eritrea and Amar forces, and therefore, it is not largely accessible. There are still a large number of refugees, two years after La Labaz, unable to return to their homes.
Tensions and sections
In an attempt to alleviate tensions within TPLF, the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abi Ahmed, presented changes and appointed recently to direct the temporary management of Tigré. At the end of 2024, TPLF was divided into two factions, with a divided group led by Debretsion Gebremichael, who accused the temporary administration of Tigré – whose head was laid, after Pretoria, to a spokesman for Gettachew Redeaches – to sabotage the interests of Tigrayan.
My father also had to intervene to avoid a new and dangerous friction with Eritrea, hostile to the transitional government and is not satisfied with the outcome of the Pretoria agreement, as well as it was not invited to the negotiating schedule.
“The TPLF sections are a serious problem, but I do not think it leads to a new conflict, too because civil society expresses and expects the new transitional government to operate better than before,” says MEDIH. The real danger, at the present time, comes from renewed tension between Ethiopia and Eritrea. It is clear that we are not at the levels of conflict (NDD, which erupted in 1998 and ended in 2000, which actually continued until 2018, when the agreement that led to Prime Minister Abi was signed at the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019) but with the bad air that breathed, some concerns did not last. In any case, the Church plays an important role in promoting dialogue and helping transition. “
Youth trip
Meanwhile, residents pass through severe difficulties. The economy does not recover, tensions inherently, children and youth are the main victims of the situation.
“Our youth live in a dramatic situation: I have closed more than 500 schools since Covacha, and it is estimated that 1.2 million children have not gone to school for five years. They are deprived of adequate education. It is clear that this situation generates frustration or does not study children, and they find more than work. Libya or Tunisia and death in the Mediterranean.
Peregrinos de la esperanza
Christians are preparing to live on another Easter of emotion in the midst of difficulties in daily life, fears of new violence and problems even to celebrate the party rituals.
“We have tremendous difficulties in reaching the places occupied by the external forces, in some areas there are no priests and it is practically impossible for the people to receive secrets. Unfortunately, I or other priests were not able to visit many places that you cannot visit to a large number of their places. Backs of ordinary people.
(Tagstotranslate) School and University (T) Young Christians (T) Ethiopia (T) Poverty (T) Poverty
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